2024 Goodwood Festival of Speed: Hillclimb categories, tickets and how to watch

Over 200,000 racing fans will descend on Goodwood House this summer for the annual Festival of Speed — a world-renowned 4-day event which showcases and celebrates the very best of motor sport’s past, present and future.

In 2024, the theme of motor sport’s ultimate garden party will be ‘Horseless to Hybrid – Revolutions in Power’, which will aim to celebrate the development in engines, propulsion and power over 130 years of organised competition — starting with the Paris-Rouen Trial of 1894. Much like that inaugural event, this year’s FOS will feature a multitude of vehicles powered by numerous forms of propulsion: from electricity, petrol and diesel to sustainable fuels, hybrid powertrains and AI.

Alongside the main theme, the event will also mark a number of significant anniversaries, including the 75th birthday of the late Niki Lauda — as well as the commemoration of his first grand prix victory and last world championship — and the 50th anniversary of Shadow‘s final CanAm championship and Joest Racing‘s first Le Mans victory. Many more celebrations are set to be announced in the coming months.

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2024 Goodwood Festival of Speed — full schedule coming soon

Four action-packed days of hillclimbs, rallying and demo runs will begin on Thursday 11 July and will run until Sunday 14 July — with the full schedule of events set to be released over the coming months.

Based on last years schedule, here’s what you could expect on each day, with visitors allowed into the grounds from 7am onwards.

Thursday

The Duke of Richmond marked the start of the 30th Festival of Speed with an opening ceremony before batches of cars climbed the Goodwood hill one after the next for the first time — with timed practice later in the afternoon. The opening day also included air displays from the Red Arrows as well as the opening of the Bonhams Auction and dynamic debuts of the latest and greatest cars from global motor manufacturers.

Friday

On Friday, more categories of cars took to the hillclimb while some of the worlds most expensive motor sport memorabilia and historic cars went under the hammer at the Bonhams Auction. There was also be some further spectacle provided by Goodwood Action Sports, who conducted their own warm up show followed by a BMX trick competition in 2023.

Saturday

The start of the weekend action was marked traditionally by qualifying for Sunday’s hillclimb shootout, in which the quickest cars competed to set the quickest times.

Saturday is also the best time to see your favourite motor sport stars, with multiple opportunities to grab autographs and photos from the Top Paddock. Goodwood’s forest rally stage will also be in action, giving you a chance to catch a fleeting glimpse of stars from the WRC and the Dakar Rally.

Sunday

‘Shootout Sunday’ — as it is more commonly known — was dominated by the final and fastest runs of the Goodwood Hillclimb. McLaren’s Solus GT set a blistering time in the hands of Marvin Kirchhöfer but was still almost six seconds off the record pace set by the McMurtry Spierling in 2022.

There was also several memorbale ‘balcony moments’ including appearances from Ferrari’s Le Mans winning drivers and numerous Moto GP stars.

The Goodwood Hillclimb — Categories

No schedule for this’s years highly-anticipated Goodwood Hillclimb has been released as of yet, but it will likely contain hundreds of makes and models broken down into different categories or ‘batches’.

Based on last year’s running, entrants could include legends from Le Mans and F1 as well as concept cars and high-powered EV’s. Will any of them be able to top the McMurtry Spierling’s record-breaking time?

Weekend highlights

From AI driven hill-climbs to star-studded driver appearances, there are set to be many highlights across the 2024 Festival of Speed. Although may reveal events and showcases are yet to be confirmed, here are the expected highlights of the weekend, with more set to be announced.

AI attempts to tackle the hill climb 

At this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed, elite racing drivers and daring motorcycle enthusiasts will share the spotlight with cutting-edge autonomous AI technology. A driverless single-seater car, hailing from the Indy Autonomous Challenge (IAC) and based on the high-speed Indy Lights model, will takes on the iconic Goodwood Hill in a “special challenge” which is set to be unveiled in the coming months.

The car itself can reach speeds of up to 190mph and is guided by an array of lasers and cameras. It will be the third time a driverless vehicle has navigated the renowned 1.16-mile stretch at Goodwood — after Roborace entered their own autonomous models into the hillclimb in 2018 and 2019. While neither achieved remarkable speeds, the latter managed to improve upon its predecessor’s time by 8 seconds, completing the course in 66.96 seconds. With the IAC team digitally mapping the Hillclimb during the 2023 event, the stage is set for the driverless Dallara to become the fastest AI-driven machine to ever grace Goodwood.

Tickets for 2024 Goodwood Festival of Speed

All tickets to the 2024 FOS include roving access around the Goodwood House grounds, allowing you to get up close and personal with some of motor sport’s greatest machines and their drivers.

Due to bad weather over last year’s event and the subsequent cancellation of all running on Saturday, many fans have chosen to carry over their one-day passes onto the 2024 event — leaving limited availability. The 4-day and Saturday admission packages are already sold out.

Buy tickets here.

General Admission 

General admission tickets are currently only available for Thursday, Friday and Sunday and cost £63, £75 and £85 per person respectively. These cover the full day of motor-themed entertainment and give you access to multiple areas including the Future Lab, Electric Avenue and the Supercar Paddock.

Roving grandstand passes are also available for £40 each — allowing you to get a better view of the action.

General Admission and Grandstand Package 

General admission and grandstand packages are currently available for Thursday, Friday and Sunday and range from £120-£172 per person.

Vistors will also receive a programme and a radio with a headset upon their arrival.

Hospitality tickets

There are a multitude of hospitality packages which are available to book over the FOS weekend — with each promising to provide entertainment, gourmet dining and quality hospitality alongside great views of the hillclimb and opportunities to meet visiting stars.

The Surtees Pavillion is Goodwood’s very own hospitality package — with prices starting from £2750 per person — and includes access to a Michelin Star chef, a private mixologist, intimate private enclosure access as well as superb views of the hillclimb.

How to watch 2024 Goodwood Festival of Speed: Live stream and TV

If you can’t make it in person, you can see all of the weekend’s action on the live-stream from Thursday to Sunday. This is expected to be available on the Motor Sport site. Check back for full details closer to the event.

A highlights package is often available on TV as well.